Fate or Destiny?
by Crystal Manning
Summary: -Prequel to The Destiny of Tenacity-. Was it fate or destiny that Willis and Crystal became friends? Go back to the very beginning to see how their friendship strengthened over time until they realized they really do need each other. On Hiatus
1. Summer 1995: That Fateful Day

**Summer 1995: That Fateful Day **

"Mom, come on!" Willis whined, drawing in the dirt with a stick. Swirls and zigzags and other patterns that danced in his head. He sighed again and dropped the stick, turning back to the house. "Mom! I want to go to the park!"

"Sweetie, I'm a little busy right now," his mother came to the door, a phone pressed between her elbow and her shoulder. "Just wait a bit longer."

The five-year-old pouted. "But Mom, you _promised._ You promised if I was quiet while you were doing your work you'd take me to the park."

"I know, sweetie, I know." His mother sighed and ran a hand through her dirty blond hair. "Please give me twenty more minutes, that's all I need. And then we can go to the park. OK?" The pout never left Willis's face and she laughed. "Why don't you go next door so you won't be waiting alone. I'm sure Crystal is bored as well and then I'll take you both to the park."

"Ok," Willis said as he stood and brushed the dirt off of his pants. His mother watched as he ran across the bridge over the small stream that separated their home from the road and then run in the direction of the house next door.

Willis pushed forward, urging his small legs to carry him to the house next door. The light wind blew his blond hair out of his bright blue eyes as he jumped from one slab of rock to the other, which made up his neighbor's sidewalk. He jumped onto the porch and reached up onto his tip toes to try and push the doorbell. He stood up a bit higher and his fingers brushed it but the door was pulled open before he could reach it. He dropped down onto his feet and smiled up at the woman who was looking at him.

"Did you cross the bridge by yourself?" She asked, backing out of the way to let Willis into the house.

"Mhm. I'm a big boy. I don't need Mommy to come with me," Willis replied with a nod.

"That's true. Well, you know where Crystal is. Have fun."

Willis nodded and padded down the hall and then up the stairs. He could hear faint noises coming from the play room. Willis pushed open the door and walked in to see his neighbor, Crystal Manning, sitting on the floor, a Power Ranger toy was in her hand and she was making it fly through the air.

"Hi," she greeted him cheerfully. "Do you want to play Power Rangers with me? Here, you can be the Blue Ranger." She picked up the toy and held it out to Willis who dropped down on the floor across from here.

"I want to be the red one," Willis said with a shake of his head.

Crystal looked down at the action figure in her hand and then looked up at Willis. She frowned and stuck the toy behind her back while shaking her head. "No, it's mine. You're the Blue Ranger."

Willis huffed. "I don't want to be the Blue Ranger. He's boring. I want to be the Red."

"_I'm_ the Red."

"You can't be the Red Ranger."

Crystal's eyes flamed. "Why not?"

"You're not a boy," Willis said obviously, reaching forward and yanking the toy out of her hand as she stared at her. "You can be the Pink," he said, handing the toy to her. "She's a girl too."

Crystal's face scrunched up like she was going to cry. Willis ignored it and started playing with the toy that was in his hands, making noises to simulate that the Power Ranger was in a fight. The next thing he knew he had been knocked to the ground and the toy was yanked out of his hand. She had turned to walk away when Willis jumped up and shoved her. He reached for the toy but she held it at arm's length. Huffing, he grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled it.

"Owww," she wailed. "Mommmeeeee!"

Willis let go of her hair and the two heard pounding footsteps come up the stairs. They both looked up to see Mrs. Manning standing in the doorway, looking back and forth at the two as if expecting to see one of them missing an arm or something. She sighed and put a hand to her forehead. "Can't you two go a day without fighting?" She asked.

"Mommy, he said I couldn't be the Red Power Ranger," Crystal whined, pointing at Willis.

"Willis, why did you say that?" Mrs. Manning asked.

"Because she's a girl," Willis replied simply.

"I don't see the problem, sweetie."

"The Red Ranger is a boy. She's a girl. She can't be the Red Ranger."

"I can _too_!" Crystal snapped, pinching him on the arm.

"Owwwww," he cried, grabbing his arm and holding it to his chest as if it were hanging by a thread.

"Why don't you two go outside and play?" Mrs. Manning suggested.

"Can we play in the Flower Field?" Crystal asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah, can we? Can we?" Willis asked, dropping his arm and giving Mrs. Manning the best puppy-dog pout he could muster. Mrs. Manning laughed at their tactics to get their way.

"Stay in the front yard, you two. I'll bring out cookies later."

"_Yaaaaaaaay_!" The two kids cheered before running out of the room with a clamor. They raced each other down the stairs and out the front door to the abandoned scooters that were in the front yard. They started to roll around the yard, big smiles on their faces while they talking about new places they were going to explore before Willis had to go back to New York at the end of the summer.

"I want to see what's in that Flower Field," Crystal commented, looking at the patch of yellow in the distance.

"Flowers, dummy," Willis commented.

Crystal stuck her tongue out at him. "Sometimes I wish I had another friend. One that wasn't a _boy_."

Willis frowned. "There's nothing wrong with being a boy."

"Boys are icky."

"Girls have cooties."

"We do not!"

"Yes you do."

"Do not!"

"Do _too_!" Angrily, Willis shoved Crystal. She toppled over the scooter that lay on the ground and fell to the ground. Her eyes immediately filled with tears as she cradled her arm. Willis moved to her side and took her arm in his small hands as she sniffed. He noticed a scratch on her arm and a little bit of blood was coming out. He brushed off the blood and placed a kiss on her arm. "All better," he said with a triumphant smile. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." And just like that their argument was over and with a hug the two were friends again. It was as if they went through the motions of their friendship on a daily basis. One of them would say something to upset the other, they'd get into a fight, and in the next few minutes they'd go back to playing as if nothing was wrong.

Willis randomly slapped her arm while shouting, "You're it!" and charged back into the house. Crystal ran after him, chasing him around the kitchen table a few times as Mr. and Mrs. Manning watched with smiles on their faces. They ran around the living room before Willis ran up the stairs. He pushed open the door to Mr. Manning's office and then stopped in his tracks.

"Gotcha!" Crystal said triumphantly, slapping him on the back. She frowned when he didn't run after her. "Will, we're not allowed in Daddy's office," Crystal told him, tugging on his arm.

"But look." Willis lifted his hand and pointed. Huffing, Crystal turned to look what he was pointing at.

Two large and brightly colored eggs were sitting in the middle of the room.


	2. Summer 1995: Don't Count Your Digimon

**Summer 1995: Don't Count your Digimon Before they Hatch  
**

Their parents were baffled when they finally found their kid sitting in the Mannings' playroom, rolling the eggs around like they were soccer balls. Whenever they tried to take the eggs away from them Crystal and Willis would scream their heads off, saying that they were their new toys and it wasn't fair. Their mothers argued that they could be covered in deadly diseases and things of the like but the kids wouldn't let go of their new 'toys'.

The two were delighted to have something new to play with. Day and night for the next couple of days they toddled around, carrying their 'toys' in their arms, rolling them around, even using them as dolls whenever they played house. And at night they would cuddle up with them. Willis even swore to his mom that it felt warm and something inside moved.

That piqued her interest. In the middle of the night she managed to wrestle the egg out of Willis's grasp. He slept so soundly, he didn't wake up at all. She crept out of the room and went into the living room with it, her phone in her hand. Talking to her husband she looked at the markings on the egg. It had stripes running around the entire thing in green and purple.

She placed a hand on the egg as soon as the call to her husband went through. Quickly she went through what happened in the past couple of days. He said that there was no cause for concern, it wasn't like someone had snuck in and put the eggs there as an elaborate plan to kidnap the kids. Someone would've surely been seen.

She didn't see the humor in the situation but agreed to monitor their son around the object. She hung up the phone and looked at the egg. Her eyes widened and she jumped. Did she just…? She swore that she saw the egg just _move_. Was a chicken growing in it or something? They'd be plastered all over the news if a chicken that size was growing in the egg.

She hesitantly reached forward and grabbed the egg. Her eyebrows lifted when she felt that it was warm to her touch. She picked it up, rolled it in her hands a few times, and threw it at the ground. It bounced back up into her hands, like a soccer ball, and she almost fell over at the shock. She stood up and, this time, threw the egg down the side of the table but it landed on the ground again and bounced back into her hands. There was no scratch or dent on the surface. It was perfectly smooth.

Willis's mother sighed and decided that it was safe enough for her son to play with. She would just make sure she didn't let him out of her sight for the next couple of days, that's all. She crept back into her son's room and put the egg right back where it was. Almost instantly his arms wrapped around it protectively. She chuckled, leaned forward, and pressed a kiss against her son's head. She ran her fingers through his soft hair and a small smile formed on his face in his sleep.

She then retired to her bed herself. The next thing she knew she was being woken up by Willis shaking her and yelling in her ear. She got out of bed quickly, thinking that he was yelling about a fire or an intruder or something.

"C'mon, Mom! Look! Look!" Willis grabbed his mother's hand and pulled her out of the room, down the stairs and into the living room. He pointed with his free hand at the egg that was rolling around on the ground and bashing into the walls, as if whatever was inside it was fighting to get out. She grabbed him and lifted him into her arms once the egg rolled over to them and stopped at her feet. "Wooow," Willis muttered, mystified as cracks ran along the egg's body until the top popped off and what looked like a green ball with eyes and a horn popped out.

The green ball fell to the floor and the rest of the egg crumbled, revealing a brown ball with eyes and three small horns instead of one big one. Behind them lay small tails that twitched against the ground. Willis wiggled in his mother's arms.

"Let me go, Mom! Let me go," he whined, reaching down. His mother, in a sort of state of shock, let him down and he toddled over to the two creatures. He knelt and smiled at them. They blinked and smiled in return, bouncing forward and rubbing against his outstretched hands. "They're so soft, Mom," he said happily. "Who are you? I'm Willis."

"I'm Conomon," the brown ball said.

"And I'm Zerimon," the green one said. "We're Digimon, short for Digital Monsters."

"Monster?" Willis's mother repeated. "And...and how can they talk? They're—"

"Cool!" Willis interrupted her, dropping down on his bottom and scooping the two Digimon into his arms. The two Digimon bounced on his lap and began talking excitedly about playing with their new friend as he laughed. His mother didn't know what to do. Yank those…Digimon away from him? Call the police? Animal Control? Her husband? But the look on his face stopped her. It was the look of pure happiness, a look that she's seen on his face but it would only appear fleetingly.

She didn't have the heart to take his happiness away, no matter from what odd phenomenon it came from.

* * *

**A/N: So, what did you guys think of this one? This story isn't going to be long, ten chapters tops. Please tell me what you think. Thanks for reading.**


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